When it came time for Halley & Josh to search for a Northern Virginia wedding photographer, they turned to recommendations from both friends and their wedding venue, the Westin Alexandria Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

“I liked that I received your name twice from two separate people,” Halley told me.  “You were the wedding photographer for my friend’s friend, Kate, and you were recommended by the Westin Alexandria.”

When I asked her what was important to her with regards to their Alexandria wedding photography, she said:

“I’m an artsy person.  I’m very creative, so I want photos that are different, yet not too crazy … a wedding photographer who is professional and creative … good clarity in the images.  We’ll also need guidance in posing…  I was at a wedding where the wedding photographer seemed miserable the entire time … I DON’T want that.  Good indoor wedding photos are important to me – I’ve seen lots of dark, bad wedding photos indoors.  I like the lighting in your wedding photos.  And, the people in your wedding photos look like they’re having fun!”

And so Halley & Josh came to visit us at our Germantown-Clarksburg photography studio.  They’re the type of people who really like to explore all options, plus their wedding was still 22 months – nearly 2 years – away, and so we didn’t decide to work together on the spot.  The next 2 months, Halley scoured client reviews on Google, WeddingWire and Yelp, occasionally e-mailing to ask a question.  She even spoke to Kate, the friend of the friend whose wedding we had photographed.  And finally, 2 1/2 months later, Halley called me up and said they were ready to move forward with booking us as their Alexandria wedding photographer.  When I asked her why they had come to this decision, this is what she said:

"The only reason we took two or three months to decide is that we were busy, and our wedding planning timeline didn’t need us to make the decision until a few months later.  I spoke with a few other wedding photographers, but I wasn’t too pleased with any of them.  You were very professional, and I like that in reviews that people wrote about you, they also said you were very professional at their weddings, and that’s extremely important to me.  Also, when we asked you at our meeting about the ‘spinning picture’ and how you did that, you went into so much detail.  Comparing other wedding photographers we spoke with to you, I didn’t have confidence in the other photographers’ answers.  In the end, you are still the only wedding photographer we met with in person.  Your professionalism was above everyone else’s that we spoke with.  Kate said you were amazing.  And I always think about that quote in one of those reviews about the bride’s friends wishing that they had hired you – I don’t want to have any regrets."

And so it was that six months later, we met up again for their Old Town Alexandria engagement session.  And it was so much fun and overall awesome!  Halley & Josh had practiced dips and lifts, and they performed them perfectly.  (Scroll down to see some of their engagement photos.)  Many thanks to Halley & Josh for writing this 5-star review of our Old Town Alexandria engagement session on Google!

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